Ducks-Blues, the morning after

- The Ducks didn't need to lose center Devante Smith-Pelly until the New Year, not with the way he's played the last couple of games. But general manager Bob Murray says Smith-Pelly will benefit from playing in the World Juniors for Canada, a tournament that begins in Alberta on Dec. 26.

- The Albert Pujols shadow did visit this game, especially in the third period when the scoreboard crew at Scottrade Center put up Pujols' picture, in an Angels uniform. The crowd reacted as you might expect. Then it huzzahed over a picture of David Freese, the NLCS and World Series MVP.

- The Ducks were asked repeatedly about their reaction to Pujols and actually had very little to give. Said Bobby Ryan: "I'm the wrong guy to ask. I don't think I've ever watched an entire baseball game."

- Bruce Boudreau likened the Ducks to the Miami Dolphins. "They've got a lot of heart," he said. "They lost their first six games and I remember their coach (Tony Sparano) saying they had a lot of character. Now they're pretty tough to play against. A lot of similarities. The confidence on our team is a little bit lacking right now. A confident team would have put in those shots in the third period."

- Generally Boudreau was happy with the effort. "It seemed like the mistakes we made ended up in our net," he said.

- "A few defensive breakdowns cost us the game," Ryan said. "We had to get more pucks deep in the second period, because with the long change it just puts too much pressure on our D. I don't think we took 10 minutes off. I think we made two mistakes in 10 minutes, and that hurt us."

--Ryan Getzlaf had a good faceoff night, winning 10 of 15, and the Ducks won 52 percent overall. That's without Saku Koivu for the final period - he went out with a lower body injury and is day to day. Maybe the Ducks will reach out to Syracuse and bring up either Peter Holland or Kyle Palmieri.

- Luca Sbisa was minus-3. I really thought he played well overall, certainly more aggressive offensively.

- A chance that Andrew Cogliano should have cashed was still on Boudreau's mind at the end. Nicklas Hagman also had several chances and was denied by Jaroslav Halak.

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